Happy Independence Day

Wishing You all a very Happy Indpendence Day.

Wow!!! India is now (we are) celebrating our 63rd Independence anniversary :).
And this year its going to be all the more special as India is going to host the common wealth games. Lets not talk or think about corruptions or any other -ves today.

It gives such a immense sense of belonging just by looking into our flag. Especially for those who stay away from the home country. We used to celebrate Independence day for the choclates thats given in school...The small paper flag that we used to pin in our uniform, the Independence day speeches, Dances and cultural programmes. Generally it used to be like this for me. I used to learn some song from my grand mother about freedom struggle or the country related songs mostly Bharathyar poems and then write a speech to talk on independence day and then participate in any of the cultural event. The best thing I used to like is to pin the flag.
There was not much seriousness till atleast I came to tenth standard.

After tenth, there was realization and a huge pariotic feeling about India is my country. Even when we recite the Pledge we friends used to actually mean each and every word of it. We went to library to learn about our freedom struggle. ACtually the interest came because we first thought that we will no longer be studying social studies from plus 1 and that in turn became into a patriotic feeling.

India :) With sixty three years of freedom, what we have achieved. We have come to a stage where we are still the number 1 when it comes to democracy. Only when we dont have something we understand the importance of achieveing it.Since our generations have already tasted the sense of freedom we still dont realize or probably appreciate it.

Apart from democary and population,India has been noticed for all the scientific achievements.Actually its easy to complain. Most of us including me still do complain on the infrastructure on the corruption about politics about unemployment about slums...but whoever complains have we done anything about it other than complaining..Where Inida was noticed because of slum dog oscar, will we be noticed for hosting a big event like common wealth?

Oops am deviating..I want to talk only about the good things...Independence day, to thank every single one from Father of nation to all those freedom fighters who visualized and struggled to get independence for us. The beauty and the serenity of the song..Vande matharam which used to be the wake up song in most of our houses...
to our National Anthem, which by default makes us to stand and feel proud of being a Indian. Feel proud to be a Indian which has the beauty of Unity in Diversity.
India which has the beauty of varied cultures and languages.


Well Let me share some facts about India to be proud about.




36% of NASA employees are Indians.
34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL employees are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.
(Do I have to mention about citibank too :))

You may know some of these facts. These
facts were recently published in a German
Magazine, which deals with
WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.

India never invaded any country in her last
100000 years of history.

India invented the Number System.

Aryabhatta invented zero.

The World's first university was established in
Takshila in 700BC.More than 10,500 students from
all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The
University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC
was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India
in the field of education.

Sanskrit is the mother of all the European
languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language
for computer software reported in Forbes magazine,
July 1987.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine
known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine
consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today
Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place
in our civilization.

Although modern images of India often show
poverty and lack of development, India was the
richest country on earth until the time of
British invasion in the early 17th Century.

The art of Navigation was born in the river
Sindh 6000 years ago.
The very word Navigation is derived from
the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
The Word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.

Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the
earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the
astronomer Smart.; Time taken by earth to orbit
the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
Budhayana first calculated the value of pi, and
he explained the concept of what is known as the
Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the
6th century long before the European mathematicians
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from
India; Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the
11th century ; The largest numbers the
Greeks and the Romans
used were 10 6(10 to the power of 6) whereas
Hindus Used numbers as big as 1053 (10 to the
power of 53) with specific names as Early as 5000 BCE
during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest
used number is Tera 1012(10 to the power of 12).

According to the Gemological Institute of
America, up until 1896,India was the only source for
diamonds to the world.

USA based IEEE has proved what has been a
century-old suspicion in the world scientifi
community that the pioneer of Wireless
communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was
built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King
rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake
called 'Sudarshana'
was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during
Chandragupta Maurya's time.

Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.

Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600
years ago he and health scientists of his time
conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans,
cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary
stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage
of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep
knowledge of anatomy, etiology, embryology, digestion,
metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found
in many texts.

When many cultures were only nomadic forest
dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians
established Harappan culture in Sindhu
Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The place value system, the decimal system
was developed in India in 100 BC.

QUOTES ABOUT INDIA:

Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the
Indians, who taught us how to count, without
which no worthwhile scientific discovery could
have been made.

Mark Twain said: India is the cradle of the
human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother
of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great
grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most
structive materials in the history of man are treasured
up in India only.

French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is
one place on the face of earth where all
the dreams of living men have found a home from
the very earliest days when man began the dream
of existence, it is India.

Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said:
India conquered And dominated China culturally
for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single
soldier across her border.

Jai Hind.

Helping Hands are better Than Praying Lips

Its going to be my daughters birthday in a weeks time. I was just thinking that most of the time in the name of parties including weddings for that matter, we order lots of food and end up wasting a lot more also. Am not saying parties and feast are wrong actually its fun and is a good way of meeting up our friends and relatives and also have a quality time with loved ones. But when we choose about the dish that we have to order and plan for it, there is vision of those under privileged comes into my mind.

People who do not have a choice to choose their food not because of health reasons but because of Poverty...People who have no choice and who are in need of food just for survival...If we think of them we would never have the heart to waste food. I am not the right person to say this actually because I have just too many choices. I love to enjoy my food and eat but at the same time I would outright reject some dishes and waste them.

So next time when we plan a party or feast along with that may be some percentage of money we probably can allocate for charity or donate to orphanage or some noble deed.
May be the blessings we get from them is one of the best gift we could give to our children also. Also actually if you have experienced it you will know that the best happiness lies in seeing others happy especially those who are in need.

In Helen Keller's words, the best things in life cannot be seen or heard but only can be felt!!!



By the way for those in India please note that
If you have a function/party at your home in India and food gets wasted, don't hesitate to call 1098 (only in India) - Its not a Joke - child helpline. They will come and collect the food.

Can You Believe It

Can you Believe it that I am the sole reason for breaking open the directors room in My office Tower 31st Floor!!!!
It was the most stressful day!!! Heights of irresponsibility!!!
Soemtimes we are too pre-occupied with unnecessary worries too much pre-occupied with things about which we actually need not worry and lose concentration and lose things.The main reason for my carelessness is at times am too much occupied with certain thoughts and well I had lost the key to the meeting room and ended up in raising request to break open the door!!! And already there was a stress of losing the key and it was all so embarrassing to inform everyone sitting in the floor that there is going to be a disturbance since we are going to break open the door!!!
What a day!!!!!
And I think we should listen to our intuitions. For me it always has worked. But only thing is I never listen to my intuition. Like when I was taking the key from my friend I had thought that I should not be taking it and what if I lose it. But other thought was that after all its for a day and I am keeping it in my bag so how will I lose it. Same way today morning when I started also i had intuition that I had misplaced the key and I wanted to check before I started to work. But already it was late and there was the usual morning chaos so I didnt give much priority to it and in the end had to really face a tough day at work.

When am I ever going to learn?!

Be Ready

{Not my own post. But I liked this very much}

Opportunity has always been with us. Everybody gets a shot. Question is will we be ready?”. …………………………………………………………………………………………...……...……………………………………………………...

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.

The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!

The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: “The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold”.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.



So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away. The problem is we never know when the door of opportunity is going to open wide. For some, the big break comes early in life and for others later on. But for all of those who become successful, there is one key similarity: They were ready. And for every one of those who were ready, there were thousands more who weren't. So, the principle for us is: Be ready!



Let's be proactive and make sure that we are the most qualified when the door opens. All we need is to make sure we are the closest to the door…. When it opens – Be Ready!

Ssshhh....... Do you hear that sound? Hinges creaking! It is the sound of the door opening. Our door of opportunity - The touch stone! I am ready, how about you?

Chevrolet Optra..

I have never ever had a dream of owning a car. Even as a kid I would have dreamt of having a own house good job etc etc but never a car. And infact till the time I had come to singapore, the only car I had travelled in is ambassador. And its impossible for me to identify and differentiate the different make of the cars whether its Hyundai or honda , Toyota or Suzuki or whatever. I used to even wonder when people even young kids can identify the car.

All this changed when my hubby decided to buy a car. I am still surprised that he learnt and got licenence in singapore. Wow. And now we decided to buy a car. Now whenever I go out in cab or in bus or whatever, I never used to concentrate on the directions as well sa other vehicles. But from the time we decided to buy a car is when I started noticing the cars. Wow its actually interesting.

Toyota, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Honda, Ford, Benz, BMW , Suzuki and what not. Some of the cars which I actually liked based on the shape because I still cannot talk about mileage or other technical details :)

I loved Chevrolet Cruze and Toyota Camry. Ofcourse if you want to go for a big one I really loved Toyota Estima. And ofcourse Toyota RAV4. And finally we settled for Avante. But unfortunately it didnt go through the coe bidding and so now we are the proud owners of Chevrolet Optra.

Chevrolet Optra especially the golden colour one is just the best car you could ever own!!! (Now I had to be partial since ours is cheverolet :) )

Actually am now in love with our car. It has such a class look and appeal. And the golden color adds to its beauty.

I had a wrong notion that better to take cabs instead of owing a car for who would worry about parking etc. But now that we got a car wow the comfort is amazing. Anytime anywhere you want to go its like so easy. Where my hubby would prefer staying home than going out he is now willing to come out. I dont know how long this enthu will last..but as of now its just amazing and am so excited.

Well so East or West Cheverolet is Best :)

By the way if you want to buy Optra its useful to read some reviews.

"http://www.chevrolet.co.in/content_data/AP/IN/en/GBPIN/001/awards-gm.html"

"http://cars4india.wordpress.com/"

Is it the world or Us who is getting smaller

We talk about globalisation. We talk about world as a small global village. With all these growing technologies we defintiely have made world a better place to live but are we living in a better way.

In the past where letter brought in the joy where getting a call from some one close would mean so much , now a days its all become a fantasy. Even a third standard kid is getting missed call. There is no quality time spent with out loved ones. And especially with iphones..things have gone even worse. Getting a answer from your loved one...itself is a big gift even if we stay together. The only source of entertainment has become watching television or browsing. People spend hours in chatting with unknown faces rather than to talk to their life partners. How many times we get a response from our better half while they are busy browing their i-phone.

The happiness you get when getting a post, when reading those letter written in your friends or relatives handwriting no words could describe it. Whether its birthday or a festival, to do shopping and buying greeting cards writing messages and posting them all those moments are lost now. The only thing that fills our letter box is the bills and statements nothing personal.

I remember even when I was in college during some lazy sundays I used to open all the letters cards and read them which would always bring smiles. Ya now also we mail our friends but whats so special...where is the personal touch...Slowly we are becoming like machines...searching for happiness in the technology..always browsing either in laptop or thanks to apple even in iphone..Kids are busy playing games in their parents i phone..

The healthy hobbies like stamp collecting or writing or even reading books I guess will soon vanish. The moments where a family sit together and chat..especially the moon light dinner in the terrace are all kind of vanishing now.

Well what to say..where there are no ears to listen to these thoughts what is the point of having these communicating gadgets. When distance between hearts have increased what is the point of world getting smaller.

Virus Virus Virus

There are good days and There are bad days. This is one such day.

My daughter was down with viral fever. Now for the first time I felt bacterias are better than virus atleast I could have given her some anitbiotics. After 4 days of continous high fever she started getting rashes. I was so worried. I thought it must be HFMD!!!! And rushed to the hospital again. The doc checked and confirmed that its not HFMD but its still a viral infection and the next two days her rashes might get worse but later she will recover on her own.

So am hoping she gets better soon. This phase is really tiresome and leaves with literally no energy physically and mentally.

I wanted to share some things to do when there is high fever.

1.Make sure that they do not get dehydrated. So keep giving them lots of liquid. Especially water for ever few minutes. Since there are ulcers in throat and mouth its very difficult to swallow. So only way is to keep giving them in small amounts frequently.

2.Its okay to give some cold jelly, ice cream or yoghurt but they should be given only in very minimal amounts. Otherwise it might aggravate the fever or cold.

3. Its okay to give sponge bath using luke warm water and let it dry on its own.

4.Dress them up in very light clothes and make sure that the room is ventilated and neither too hot not too cold.

5.And more importantly take care of yourself too as as a mother we need more strength and energy to take care of our kids.

Generally I am against the concept of taking kids to GP when they fall sick. I used to argue that its important to take them to only paediatrician even for small issues. Last time when I was down with fever and at the same time my daughter also was sick with cold and flu I took her to GP since he was near and she also recovered fast. And because of that I took her to GP this time too which is actually wrong. May be I should have taken to the paediatrician first. Ofcourse a virus takes its own course of time but still...So Lessons Learnt..Never take kids to GP .

All izzz well :)

Happy Friendship Day

Good Morning World

All izzz well!!!

It has been a stressful week for me since my daughter was not well. The toughest times in life is when your dear and near one fall sick and you feel so helpless.
Anyways its friendship week with first sunday of August being friendship day.

Friends :)
The minute you say this word it brings a smile. Friends are part of our life and our well being.
I am thankful to god for having blessed me with good friends and a guardian angel.

So wishing all my friends a very happy friendship day.

Dont walk in front of me
I may not follow you
Dont walk behind me
I may not lead you
Walk beside me and be my friend forever :)